"Pencil thoughts"... a space where my fingers can put into words whatever my mind or heart speaks to me. Pencil thoughts symbolize a writing from a pencil, something which can be erased and rewritten; ie. a mind trying to be unbiased, open to all sorts of thoughts... a free, open, learning and a thinking mind. This space is for sharing my thoughts and experiences with my friends and the world. Welcome to my thought world !!

Sunday, April 8, 2007

The Namesake - A review

Last Sunday evening, I had gone to watch Mira Nair's movie, The Namesake. I had heard very good reviews about the movie & I was very eager to watch this movie. The movie is adapted from a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri by the same name.

The storyline revolves around the life of a Bengali family; Ashoke Ganguli (Irrfan Khan), Ashima Ganguli (Tabu) & their son Gogol (Kal Penn) and his sister, who live in the US. Gogol who is born & brought up in the 'land of opportunities' is discontented with his strange name that had become a subject of mockery. He feels desocialized & is perplexed as to what made his father name him after his favourite Russian author Nicholai Gogol. One day Ashoke tells Gogol the story behind his name; revealing the conversations with a co-passenger in the train he was travelling in, before it met with an accident. At that time Ashoke was a college-going lad & was reading Nicholai Gogol during his journey.

A few days after this revelation, Ashoke dies of a sudden heart attack & Gogol soon starts realizing how great his father was & how he had failed to understand him. The quest for discovering his father makes him realize his roots & the journey of life brings him home.

The movie sets its own pace & is never unduly stretched at any point. The characters & the ambience is treated in a simple fashion & absolutely no glamorous scenes are included; which in fact appeals to the viewer & binds him with the characters. Irrfan and Tabu set their own standards & exhibit multifaceted acts. Irrfan depicts the most intricate scenes with utmost ease & sheer simplicity. And Tabu asserts being a top-notch actress, handling all the finer nuances of her role with great maturity of acting.

My verdict: the movie is a very good one to watch with your family & would definitely appeal to you if you are the one who enjoys offbeat cinemas. So friends, go ahead and watch this masterpiece.

PENCIL THOUGHTS

About Me

For me, words are the superlative form of expression! Its amazing & overwhelming to be a part of this world where individual alphabets combine together in almost a lyrical sense to form WORDS - a power & a tool like no other. I share a very intimate relationship with words; this blog being one of the forms of this everlasting, burgeoning love!!